<Begin Segment 57>

TY: [Jpn.] And I heard that you had to line up, there was a line for everything.

MK: [Jpn.] That's right. A line. It was "first come first serve."

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] Yeah. So if you want to go early or enter early, you go early and wait. But it was not easy to stand in line in the heat. Besides, it was not that they wouldn't feed you if you were late.

TY: [Jpn.] Yes.

MK: [Jpn.] They will feed you no matter what. The only difference is that it will be a little later.

TY: [Jpn.] Yes.

MK: [Jpn.] So you just figure out if you leave at this time, then it will be this, and then decide to leave. So it was simple. Uh-huh.

TY: [Jpn.] But everybody ate in the mess hall at the same time...

MK: [Jpn.] Yeah.

TY: [Jpn.] But then, how about the children's manners?

MK: [Jpn.] Yeah, but...

TY: [Jpn.] Yes.

MK: [Jpn.] The other thing is that those with babies...

TY: [Jpn.] Yes.

MK: [Jpn.] They go get the baby food. See? They took good care of us.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] Uh-huh. They gave us special baby foods.

TY: [Jpn.] I see. So when you went to eat, you took your children with you...

MK: [Jpn.] Yeah. We took them with us.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] Well, there was a big bench for us to sit together.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] There was a bench. It was not a two-by-four, but maybe ten-by-something. There was a chair of the same length as the table. You sit wherever you like. At both sides of a table. So you can sit wherever you want. Uh-huh. Yeah. You can eat wherever you want.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] Yeah. The only difference was whether you were close or far from the mess hall.

TY: [Jpn.] Was seventy-three close?

MK: [Jpn.] No. The children go wherever a table is.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] They don't think that way.

<End Segment 57> - Copyright © 2000 Densho. All Rights Reserved.